Thaindian News

London, July 19 (ANI): British Business secretary Lord Mandelson has warned Tata Motors, the owner of Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), to accept a revised proposal to guarantee hundreds of millions of pounds in short-term funding or risk seeing it taken off the table.

Following a fresh funding proposal that was made by the British Government earlier this month, Mandelson warned Tata Motors recently.

The revised deal proposed by the Government is understood to have removed a contentious condition contained in the original offer to which Tata objected that would have given the taxpayer board representation at the JLR.

However, it includes a commitment that Tata would not be able to alter the car manufacturer’s business plan without the approval of ministers. It was unclear whether the new terms are acceptable to Tata, The Telegraph reports.

People close to the situation said last night that ministers were surprised that Tata had not yet provided a response to the latest proposal and said the Government was becoming increasingly frustrated with the stance adopted by the Indian company.

At stake is a Government guarantee for 290 million pound of European Investment Bank loans, while a separate short-term commercial loan of up to 200 million pound is also understood to be being negotiated by the company before a longer-term financing structure is established.

Last week, the JLR announced that it was cutting up to 300 jobs at Halewood on Merseyside because of the international slump in car sales. The luxury carmaker is to stop producing its X-Type saloon at the plant by the end of the year. (ANI)